Summary

Using landing records data on all immigrants who have landed in Canada since 1980, this paper examines the extent to which the relative change in the weighting and in the composition of the evaluation grid in Quebec in 1996 has improved the relative skill level of the immigrants settling in Quebec compared to the rest of Canada. We find little evidence that such is the case. However, we do find that the immigrants' knowledge of French has improved in relative terms, although this upward trend in the knowledge of French was already present before the policy change. We are led to conclude that Quebec faces a serious supply problem by favouring applicants who are both skilled and francophones, given that the pool of potential applicants satisfying those two requirements is shrinking. One potential solution to this problem would be to put greater emphasis on the recruitment and retention of students coming from abroad.